Tara Murray
After watching Australia win the gold at the international World Team Cup last year, Sunbury’s Jin Woodman was keen to be part of this year’s team.
The nearly 14-year-old put in the hard work the last 12 months and will compete in the competition against the best wheelchair tennis nations.
Woodman said he was excited to head to Portugal for the event.
“I’m very excited,” he said. “It’s the first year that I’m going.
“Since I didn’t make the team last year, I trained harder than usual to make it in 2023. Since I saw the three boys that went last year that they won it, I wanted to be like them and win it again and keep the streak going.”
Woodman said he upped his training load to six times a week to make the inroads in his game that he needed.
He trained with different coaches and took on the feedback that they were giving him.
“They were saying to me that I was improving,” he said. “From my perspective it has been good, they are giving me honest reviews on how training is going with them.”
The competition will be Woodman’s second overseas competition, having previously played in a a world junior masters championship earlier this year.
He said it was a good experience to play in a competition like that.
“I was the youngest there,” he said. “I did better than I thought I would.”
Being the youngest in competition is something Woodman is used to having started playing when he was seven after seeing tennis at a disability sport rec event.
He has then been based at Hume Tennis Centre.
Having been classified, Woodman said that he is the youngest in ITF events playing against some of the world’s best players.
He currently has a world ranking of 11 in the junior singles category, 185 in the ITF singles rankings and 86 in the quad singles rankings.
In January, he played two events at Hume in the quad open age group.
“Donald [Ramphadi] that was a great experience,” he said. “He’s played against Dylan Alcott.
“I then played Andy [Lapthorne], I didn’t go so well, but it was a good experience.”
After returning from Portugal, Woodman’s next tournament is in Queensland.
The youngster’s aim is to hopefully break through for his first ever title in the near future.
“I’ve made finals and semi finals,” he said. “I’ve gone close to actually winning before.”
While Woodman is making his mark on the tennis court, he is also making it off it.
Woodman attends Maribyrnong Sports Academy, where he became the first student in a wheelchair to earn a scholarship to the school.
He said he was never interested in changing schools, but loved the idea of going to a sports school.
Long term, Woodman has some big goals.
“I want to make the grand slams,” he said. “I want to make the Australian Open and make the 2032 Paralympics.”
